Bridgewater City

Bridgewater administrative offices are located at 224 North Main Street, Bridgewater, IA 50837.

Beginnings [1]

Bridgewater was founded in 1885. The city of Bridgewater is located near the Mormon Trail, the route that Brigham Young and his followers took from Nauvoo, Illinois to Salt Lake City. Also near Bridgewater is the site where the Mormon settlers first encountered American Indians on their travels. Wagon ruts from the Mormon Trail are still visible in nearby Mormon Trail Lake Park. Beyond this, little history is readily available about Bridgewater. Most of the information about Bridgewater's history that we have gathered came from our interview with Bridgewater's mayor. According to this interview, even though Bridgewater never exceeded a population of about 400 people, it did have a lively downtown area with several businesses in its heyday, before the construction of Interstate 80 in Northern Adair County.